THE PRINCE OF WALES IN INDIA.

Evening Star, Issue 4039, 5 February 1876, Page 2 (Supplement)

THE PRINCE OF WALES IN INDIA.

INTERESTING PARTICULARS. The . ‘ Argus’s ’ Bombay correspondent supplies that journal with a most interesting account of the Prince’s progress through India, and from his letters we make the following extracts:— THE DECORATIONS AT PO N H were co'ifini d to the r-<ilw»y station nd to half a mre b.yond it. Here the u ual nm’unt of evergreens, flags, flowers, Piince of Wales’s ami mottors of welcom • w--ie erected, things needless ro de c ibe in de ail, because ev-rywhere they must, fr*-m the nec sdty <>{ things, clotol. iese b’e each o'h'-r Th- only really ordinal feature w.s a triumph d arch. desi.ned by Colonel Goodfelbw. of the Royj.l Eng’netrs, and erected by the men under his command. It was a luffi: ach, surmounted by four very light p .vilions, in the Hindoo style, of glass with cold, (dive-, and coored arabesques. Within there were children in Eastern costumes. Above, on a superior arch, were “ tabout*.” Th so “taboo s” are supposed to represent the coffin of Hussin and H <rsein. the holy oms if the Indian bran hj of Mahomed >n ism. jihey may be describ’d a* resem l ng g'gantic soup-'ureens, en ousted with lookingglass, and with high conical lids, shining with gems. I he beauty and appropriateness of this arch qui e set it ai art from all triumphal a che* I ever beheld; it was at once I'ght, grac-ful, and brilliant, The old city under civilian rule, and he B.izaarqu rter under the mili ary autho ities, each vied wi’h each other in the attempt to do honor to the occasi n. Tt e houses t hems-Ives were all newly pain'ed, and were g»y with flags, transparencies, chand-.-liers, and o her adornments. In front of the trees, upon ei her side, arches had been e ected, facing the street for its »nt re length, and from each arch hung three H n<loo lantern-*. Beneath the trees artificial g rdens hj d been fomvd, in m ny instances bright with flowers, and fresh with fountains playing in thrir midst. The 7 hj and 17th, the two white regiments in garrison, had each e ect d a triumphal arch across, the street, while at one side the corporation of but heishad set up an arch in scat let. and gold, with the inscript’on, “ The Butchers’ Toast to the Prince of Wales Roast Beef and John Bull for Ever ” S me of the other iusci) tions of welcome were very funny, altli- ugh those who erected them had no intention whatever of being comic. ’• bus a large one across the streets, “ Tell Mama were Happy,” must have amused the Prime nt a little. The o’d city bad—and this could have been no slight work - thoroughly claned and re-painted itself. In the next place it had brightened its streets by rows of young plaintains, cut off 12ft from the t ip, and stuck nto th** ground. It had erected several triumphal arches andhad put up some very pretty decorations of greenery, reliev dby festoons of flower chains. But af-er all, it was at the garden d"wn by the river that Poonah had made its greatest effort. A pretty garden, nnd prettily situated, with a wide rver falling over a stone dam in a wall of water, with rocks and shallows here and tlie>e, with a fine bridge spanning it a hundred y.irds b dow the dam, and a hill surmounted by a temple, rising upon the other side. So muen for the situation. The garden itself is of no very great extent, but is shady with great trees, and bright with flowers. This has b -en surrom de l by green arches hung with window lanterns ; othe- lanterns are hung from the trees, and lamps are placed everywhere in the gra s. and around the edge* of the borders. Even in the daytime a ve.y bright, tt-toy scene, but it b-com-s at n ght a fairyland. PRESENTS TO THE PRINCE. The pi esent* which the Prince has received from the great princes s’nce his arrival have been very valuable The articles given in return are thi gs of which an Englishman is so ashamed'that he cannot tru-t him-elf to speak at all. I will onlv say t at, with the exception of a few guns and swords, the staple of the presents given in return for these princely gltts have be*n gold rum bearing the iMnce’s initial, and trumpery silver medals of t'm intrinsic value of t-n shillings each. In Poonah. 700 school childr n presented him with a little address of their own, by far the met pretti y worded, by-the bye, < f any he has received in India, and when that was over they thronged around the carriage, threw little presents in, and hurrahed shrilly. A little Parsee girl also presented the Prince with a pearl bracelet, of the value of L2OO, for his eldest daughter. The Prince was quite touched with the gift, and spent so long a time among the children that he was nearly half an hour late when he arrived at the racecourse, where THE REVIEW was hj Id. There were about 6,000 troops bn the ground, consisting of three batteries of artistry, the 7th Furileers, and loth Regiment, six regiments of native infantry, and 250 sappers and miners. The feature of the parade was a squadron of Poonah horse being put through in the dark, a new drill, the invention of Captain Hogg, of that regiment. ' It consists in training them to fight on foot like iniantry, while every fifth man takes charge of the horses of four of his comrades, and gallops with them at full pace to the rear. The horses a e .under perfect command, and each horseip, <n can manege his with peifevtetse. This greatly adds fo the value of a mounted corps for buffi fighting, and an army with, say, 6,000 horsemen so trained, would be enabled suddenly to throw 5,000 infantry upon an enemy’s, Sauk, or in a battle to reinforce any important point with great rapidity. AMONG THE CINGALESE. The Prince w at to Kandy, a village-like: little town, lying in a lovely basin 2,000 ft above the sea. The decor vt ona he e were similar in style to tho-«e at Colombo, the most singular deco ations being those of the gre .t Kandian chiefs, a score or so in numb r. Nothing could be more singular than the attire of these worthies. Upon their heads each wore a large cushion-shaped hat covered with gold em-: broidery, and surmounted by an ornament I ke a little tree, with drooping branches. This was, perhaps, 4ft in height, and twinkled with little gold pendants; in some instances the braaeblets terminated with little halls of almond -floss silk. Round their necks, the chiefs wore large faffing collars, pleated, frilled, and gold embroidered. Their jackets were of very stiff brocade, of gorgeous coloring and design, so much more superb indeed than any- ! thii g we now see, that they must have been imported to Ceylon in the days when 'Pur grandfathers and grandmothers wore brocade wa stcoats and dresses. It is posfiii.le, indeed, that they came from the looms of India. I naked an in’erpreter, but he told one that (the dresses were all h-redit ry, and being only used upon the grandest occasions, lasted an inumn-e time. Round the wa ; st thev Wore gold belts, and round the neck numbers of heavy gold chains. The butt .ns of the jackets were of gold filagree, and their bands were covered with rings, some of which were 2in. in’ diameter, and contained hundreds of precious stones. It ww, however, fiom the wa ; fit downwards that the great sinauarfty of the costume connived, Th * robe instradof being wrapped somewhat lightly round the Joins, and falling almost straight, was immensely voluminous, and gave them the ap earanc-i of ye<y stmt matrons in the.state in which“matrons like to be who love th-ir lords.” So comical iyas it; that it was. next to imoos ible to look at them without laughffig. These singularly bunchy and unwie dy skirts were of fine white muslin With a broad gold stripe. They were worn lather short, and were much more scanty and ama'l at the ankle than they werj above, giving a pegtoppy apnearance to the great men who wore them. Below, the costume tT-miuated in white tight’y-fiiting drawers, frilled at the .ankle. The feet were bare. AM >NG THE RAND AY AN CHIEFS. •JTiie public on of the chiefs took place in tbe audience hall of the anc ent King of Kandy. It has a wide roof, with flat, dark teak coiling, supported on four rows of splendidly carved columns, also of teak, with bra keted columns of elab rate workmanship, Jt W'ts open on all sides to the air. On a long bench, on the oppos te side to the spectators’ bench wer,e ragged the wiyes of the Kandyan chiefs, the chiefs (tbemsel ves continuing the line tp thin en 4 o f ttiejigll, The ladies wqre quietly yUessed ia pative ooajtyjpe, fouji were laden with ■ i,;. j ; ■ ■

gold and jewel'ery. The chiefs were brought up in lines of four, and were present d by the political officers in cha ge of them. The Prince then walked up the line of Kandy n ladies, sinking h;.nds with the wives of o; e or two of the principal chiefs, and bowing to the others. He then left the hall and entered the temp'e, jo low d by his staff, for the purpose of inspeefng that impudent imposture called Buddha’s tooth. This tooth is 2in long and was certainly never in the jaw of a human being. It is probably the tooth either "t the wild boar or of the crocodile. The original tooth, which had an authentic hist ry of nearly 1,500 years, was captured by the Portugese and was sole.only destroyed by them, altho ugh the Kng of .S’am offe ed to buv it of them f*>*- a million sterl ng After a hundred years the present to >th appeared on the scene and was accept ’d without t"0 c’ose an inve-tigation. It is kept in a sort of closet, wbe - e, upon a table of- silver, is placed a great golden bell-shaped vase, wi eathed with chains . i. ewels - On this bring lifte-1, another of similar shape but smaller in size, is seen underneath, and so bell after bell is taken up, until at last in the heart of a golden lotus, the sacred tooth is seen reposing. The Prince examined the relic gravely.